Watchable Jan. 10 to 16, 2022

SHOW OF THE WEEK: After Life (Jan. 14, Netflix)

Throughout the first two seasons of “After Life,” Ricky Gervais’s gentle gem of a comedy, the question was whether his character, Tony, could ever recover after the death of his wife, Lisa, from breast cancer.

In this third and final season, Tony seems to have decided to go on living, but it puts the lie to the somewhat ridiculous idea of “closure.” Some losses can’t be gotten over. Maybe it’s enough, as Tony tells his brother-in-law Matt (Tom Basden), just to be content once in a while, but also to recognize you’ll never be able to replace what you had.

Gervais told Deadline in January he was never going to end the series with a “happily ever after” for Tony and he doesn’t, not in the way that a more mainstream comedy might, with Tony moving on into a new relationship.

He still watches videos of Lisa (Kerry Godliman) morning and night and drinks way too much, polishing off a bottle or two of wine every evening with his dog Brandy by his side.

But he also makes even more room in the heart that he hides under his misanthropic facade to care about other people: Matt; Anne (Penelope Wilton), the widow he bonds with as they visit their late spouses’ graves; Emma (Ashley Jensen), the nurse who took care of his late father; Lenny (Tony Way), the photographer Tony works with at the Tambury Gazette; new Gazette employee Coleen (Kath Hughes); even people who’ve annoyed him, like advertising rep Kath (Diane Morgan).

Fictional Tambury is still full of misfits — including sad sack Brian (David Earl), paperboy and aspiring actor James (Ethan Lawrence) and postman Pat (Joe Wilkinson) — who are the source but not the butt of jokes. Gervais, who wrote and directed the entire series, highlights the humanity in characters that the rest of the world would see as losers.

That’s especially true in the final episode, in which we get a glimpse of what might be better times ahead for these flawed but fundamentally decent people.

“After Life” is sentimental without being saccharine and irreverent without being mean, poking fun at the human condition while also making astute observations about life, death and grief, all laced with a generous helping of profanity and bawdy humour.

It makes you laugh, cry, cringe and think deep thoughts, and any show that does all that is worthy of attention.

This week, Netflix also has Season 2 of “Cheer” (Jan. 11); stop-motion special “The House” (Jan. 14) and supernatural drama “Archive 81” (Jan. 14).

Short Takes

Children Ruin Everything (Jan. 12, 8 p.m., CTV and CTV.ca)

The conceit of this new Canadian comedy — which carries the distinction of being created by Kurt Smeaton, a writer and producer of proven TV properties like “Kim’s Convenience” and “Schitt’s Creek” — is right there in the title. Urban, west-end Toronto parents Astrid (Meaghan Rath, “Being Human”) and James (Aaron Abrams, “Hannibal”) are missing the carefree days before they spawned adorable little hellions Felix (Logan Nicholson) and Viv (Mikayla SwamiNathan). Another complication is that Astrid is supposed to be going back to work to help with the family’s finances but finds herself wanting to have another baby which, when you consider the cost of living in Toronto, takes you into truly fictional territory. The children are cute, if bratty; Rath and Abrams are likeable leads, and I can say after watching three episodes that the show has some laugh-out-loud funny lines. It also benefits from a strong supporting cast, including Nazneen Contractor (“24”) and Dmitry Chepovetsky (“ReGenesis”) as Astrid’s Type-A sister and hipster brother-in-law; Veena Sood (“Corner Gas Animated”) as her helpful but not too helpful mother; Ennis Esmer (“Blindspot”) as James’s bachelor friend and co-worker; and Lisa Codrington (“Letterkenny”) as his child-unfriendly boss.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (Jan. 14, Apple TV Plus)

If you think you know everything there is to know about the Shakespeare play “Macbeth,” about a Scottish general’s decline from glory to ignominy after he decides to seize the crown for himself, I would urge you to watch this version, written and directed by Joel Coen. Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand bring a commanding gravitas to the roles of Macbeth and his scheming wife, due not only to their professional abilities but their ages: Washington is 67, McDormand 64. I’ve always thought of the characters as younger; for me, aging them up adds another layer to the ambition that brings about their downfall, of people determined to grasp power while they still have the chance. The supporting cast includes a well-chosen mix of Americans and Brits, including English actors Bertie Carvel and Alex Hassell as Banquo and Ross, Irishman Brendan Gleeson as Duncan, Americans Corey Hawkins and Moses Ingram as Macduff and Lady Macduff, and American-British actor Kathryn Hunter, truly menacing playing all three witches. The black-and-white film is also visually striking, with its stark sets and dramatic interplay of light and shadow, while the soundscape adds to the sense of doom that permeates the proceedings.

Ray Donovan: The Movie (Jan. 14, 9 p.m., Crave)

I admit I lost track of “Ray Donovan” the series after Season 5, but I was still game to see how things would end for fixer Ray (Liev Schreiber), his father Mickey (Jon Voight) and the rest of the damaged Donovan family. This movie, a gift to fans after the show was abruptly cancelled in 2020, picks up where Season 7 left off — and this is your spoiler alert if you’re not up to date — with Ray burying the body of the man he murdered, Jim Sullivan, who raped his sister Bridget, which led to her suicide all those years ago. Meanwhile, Ray’s daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey) buries her husband Smitty, killed in a shootout between Jim’s son Declan and Ray’s half-brother Daryll (Pooch Hall); and Mickey is on the run with the valuable stock certificates that led to that shootout. Ray follows Mickey to Boston, presumably to kill him, and as he tracks Mickey’s movements he flashes back to the past, to the troubled relationship with his father that has haunted him his entire life. I won’t spoil things by telling you how it turns out, but there is a neat circularity to the way that what happens to Ray as the movie ends echoes teenage Ray’s betrayal of Mickey, which got Mickey sent to jail. There is some hope of healing for the Donovan clan, including brothers Terry (Eddie Marsan) and Bunchy (Dash Mihok), but at the cost of Ray having to fix things once again.

Odds and Ends

This week’s “American Masters” (Jan. 11, 9 p.m., PBS) is about Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), namesake of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, still a going concern more than six decades after Ailey founded it. This doc examines not only his life and work as a dancer and choreographer, but his importance as a Black artist bringing Black experience to the stage.

Crave has “Peacemaker” (Jan. 13), the DC Comics “Suicide Squad” spinoff starring John Cena as the title character, a muscle-bound dolt who kills to achieve peace. Superhero series are not generally my thing, but this one benefits from the casting of Danielle Brooks of “Orange Is the New Black” and Rizwan Manji of “Schitt’s Creek”; the CGI eagle sidekick is fun; and, at the very least, you have to watch the cast dance during the opening credits. Crave, via HBO, also has “Somebody Somewhere” (Jan. 16, 10:30 p.m.), starring comedian Bridget Everett, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to screen.

Speaking of superheroes, if you want to check out Oscar winner Chloe Zhao’s swing at the genre, the Marvel movie “Eternals” is on Disney Plus on Jan. 12.

Prime Video, formerly known as Amazon Prime Video, also has a movie debut, the animated sequel “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” on Jan. 14.

Ryan Reynolds fans might want to tune into CBC on Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. when he assumes narration duties from David Suzuki on “The Nature of Things” for an episode that takes a humorous approach to what you can do to “Curb Your Carbon” and fight climate change.

For those of you who like reality shows about cars, History Canada has a new original, “Lost Car Rescue” (Jan. 13, 9 p.m.), in which classic car hunters travel into the wilderness in search of lost pieces of vehicular history.

Super Channel Fuse has Season 3 of “American Gods” (Jan. 16, 10 p.m.), which focuses on Shadow (Ricky Whittle), as well as the British import “The Teacher” (Jan. 16, 9 p.m.), not to be confused with the American miniseries “A Teacher,” although they’re both about female teachers who sleep with their teenage, male students.

Finally, Acorn has Season 2 of “Queens of Mystery” (Jan. 10), about three crime-writing sisters and their detective niece who, duh, solve mysteries. I found the pilot episode charming when I screened it many moons ago, so I’ll put this on my ever expanding list of shows I want to catch up on.

NOTE: The listings here are in Eastern Standard Time and I’ve verified the times where possible, but it’s always best to check listings for your own area. The selection of programs reviewed reflects what I’m given access to by networks and streamers, whether reviews are embargoed, how many shows I have time to watch and my own personal taste. The Odds and Ends section includes shows that I have not watched.